Saturday, April 12 and Sunday, April 13 – Horse Creek (SC)
and Broad River (GA) – So, I started this blog to write about my experiences
kayaking various bodies of water. If you’re familiar with Aiken/Augusta, you
know there are a few choices, but I feel it is pretty limited. You have the
Savannah River that has different sections and areas just off it (Betty’s
Branch, from the Steven’s Creek dam down, from the next lock and dam down),
Langley Pond, the Edisto River (take your pick on the number of sections), Horse
Creek and some other streams, creeks and ponds. Again, that’s a very small,
consolidated list because there are sections of each and parks on a few that
you can do small trips in to give you a variety.
I tell you this to set up an idea. One thing that my dad is
doing is working on paddling the entire length of the Edisto River, but in
chunks. He doesn’t really have the time right now to start at the beginning and
go all the way down to the coast because that takes about a week. But that is
definitely on my bucket list. Well, I have wanted to do something similar, only
with Horse Creek.
Now, before writing this I thought I had done almost all of
Horse Creek and that it started around Graniteville and made its way down to
the Savannah… boy am I wrong. Upon further research, I see that Horse Creek
actually starts up near Edgefield, comes south under I-20 and continues down to
where it meets the Savannah. Guess I have more paddling to do than I originally
thought… and some of that won’t be as well taken care of as just south and west
of Graniteville, I’m sure.
Anyways, I have already done two of the bigger, more
traversed sections before, and one is actually a normal paddle for me. The main
section is a trail that Aiken County seems to have worked on to be more
inviting and can be seen in orange (not I-520) on the map above. You put in just below the Langley Pond Dam and float/paddle down into
Clearwater where you take out at Harrison-Caver Park. At one time, there were
docks and boardwalks at the put-in and take-out spots to make it easier to
launch and land, but something happened and the county took it all away (and I
mean it ALL away. They spent all that money on building nice boardwalks and
docks just to rip it out and do lord knows what with it). But apparently now
they’ve put up signs, but still haven’t fixed the best ways to put in and take
out (good job Aiken County).
Anyways, there is that section then, there is the section
above Langley Pond that I have also done (It's in a bright green). My dad, a friend of ours from church
and I put in at the 2nd Street Bridge in Graniteville a few years
ago and then made our way all the way down to the northern most section of the
pond. FYI, if you are not die-hard, willing to get out and walk around areas or
scared of snakes, bugs and poison ivy, this section is to be avoided (well, maybe
you should just avoid the outdoors all-together during the warmer months in SC).
It is not well-maintained and while you can see some cool things while floating
through town and even down towards the pond, it can get down right nasty, dirty
and dangerous with lots of snags where water moccasins like to hang out.
This first section of the post is actually dedicated to the
final leg of Horse Creek: from Harrison-Caver Park down to the Savannah which I have colored red. I had
never done this section, but Dad and his buddy Bob have done it a few times, so
when Bob got a small group together to do it, I jumped at the opportunity, even
if it was starting at 8 AM on a Saturday.
Like most of Horse Creek, it winds it’s way along and has
shallow points as well as some deeper ones, but this had to be the most
beautiful section I had seen. About an hour into our paddle (I don’t remember
exactly where) we came across a snag that required us to swing out wide and
just barely squeeze through… but on the branches that made up the snag was a
big water moccasin, and I mean big! I’ve had my “run-ins” with these beasties
before and have always escaped unscathed; a trend I plan on continuing for
quite a while. The thing to remember with snakes, even moccasins, is that they
are just as afraid, if not more, of you as you are of them and as long as you
don’t make them feel trapped, they will generally leave you alone (although
every now and then you find an animal of any kind with a mean streak just out
to hurt other beings). So, our group came to a stop and we waited for this
creature to make its way across the water to a spot away from us. But I still
approached the snag carefully because sometimes where there’s one snake,
there’s more. There luckily weren’t any more and we actually didn’t see any more
snakes along this trip (doesn’t mean they weren’t there though! So be careful
if you try this section).
Notable things along this section of the creek are… well,
the nature. Yes, you can hear civilization around at points, including a train
from time to time, but it really is remarkable how beautiful it all can be
(even if there is a lot of trash here. Seriously, Aiken County, please work on
litter control/pickup in the waterways more!).
You can see a lot of cool things along the way including an
old bridge that is no longer in use and is mostly rotted out. The bridge is
just after passing under, I believe, Atomic Rd. You also pass under Old Storm
Branch Rd, but Atomic Rd looks to be the closer section if I remember correctly.
And there is another bridge near here that I think is purely used by the
waste-treatment facility near by because it isn’t on any maps. Yes, I just
mentioned waste treatment facility and some of y’all are probably going,
“GROSS!” It has a slight odor to it, but it wasn’t overbearing that day and
this was actually the section that had the best scenery. I’m guessing there is
a direct correlation to the waste and good soil. Hey, we use cow manure to
fertilize fields. I’m just sayin’.
Another interesting thing to look out for on this stretch
are the birds, the hundreds of turtles, the occasional deer and… alligators.
Yep. Augusta and Aiken have alligators, people. Seen a fair share and even
paddled near one on the river. But, again, as long as you leave them alone,
they’ll leave you alone. Or may get curious and check you out from a distance.
We did happen to come up on one on Saturday and we both scared each other to
where I’m pretty sure there was a little extra water in my boat that I didn’t
start the day with… and I wear a spray skirt so I’ll let you figure out how it
got in there. I cam up to another section with a downed tree that was going to
require me to swing out wide and I just caught a glimpse of him and he went to
thrashing and a mad dash to get away. I didn’t really have that effect on the
gators in the Okefenokee, but I’m guessing this guy wasn’t used to seeing
humans out there.
Two other things that I found interesting: one was the tree
growth. Some of the cypress and other evergreen trees grew HUGE. It’s great to
see fairly untouched areas that allow you to see how big some of them can get.
The other thing is the water level. We have gotten quite a bit of rain recently
(thank you!) and it looked like, from what Bob and I could tell, the water had
actually gotten up maybe another 4 feet or so at some sections. That, to me,
was amazing. But, I have seen Horse Creek overflow its banks down in the valley
a few times, so it’s not unbelievable.
Like I said, Horse Creek pops out on the Savannah just south
of where 520 passes over the river and this was where I had the most trouble.
My little creek boat, with a flat bottom, was perfect for navigating the twists
and turns of the creek, but in open water, it was a struggle. But you can
paddle up stream and take out at the Augusta Rowing Club launch with
little-to-no problem. So, there you go. Plan accordingly if you wish to tackle
this section.
Now, for the slightly more exciting trip: Broad River in
Georgia. Kind of like most rivers and creeks around the south, this river makes
its way a looooong distance. It appears to start up in the mountains of northeast
Georgia (maybe even Tennessee) and winds down into the Savannah River north of
Strom Thurmond Lake. Like the Edisto, it has a north and south fork and my
group did the north fork near Danielsville, GA, northeast of Athens.
Now, I have included a map of this section of the river with
four dots and will reference certain times in my YouTube video (Found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk_zvE3Q6No)
I recorded with two GoPro cameras so you can get a better idea of everything
going on. Obviously, the put-in and take-out areas are labeled and have red dots but I also have
two orange dots on there if you look closely enough. These mark two of the four
more fun areas, but we’ll get there in a bit.
If you are interested, by all means go with the outfitter we
used: Broad River Outpost (BRO) - their website is - http://www.broadriveroutpost.com. The place we went to may look a little rickety
and suspect, but I can’t remember a single outfitter I’ve been to for whitewater
rafting that hasn’t looked this way. But they were really nice, eager to help
and you can’t beat the price. If you have your own gear, it’s $5. Yup, $5 to go
towards the shuttle (an old, rickety short bus of course. I expect nothing less
from a true river excursion) ride from the take-out back to your vehicle. If
you need to borrow their boats, (sit-atops that seemed to handle the class I
and II rapids very well) paddles and life vests, then it’s $20. Seriously, why
don’t more people use these guys?
The section my group did was advertised as about
two-and-a-half to four hours long depending on current, water level and how
much you decided to play at the different locations. We were able to finish it
in about two-and-a-half hours. This included me stopping at one section to play
a little longer and because a member of our group decided he really liked to
swim more than stay in his boat. So, realistically you could probably make this
in two hours or under if you hurry, but why hurry?
It’s in the foothills of northeast Georgia and is absolutely
gorgeous. The river is fairly flat so anybody who hasn’t done a lot of kayaking
need not fear. It can be quite relaxing for the majority of the paddle, but it
does have sections where the fun can start.
Our group that day included Billy (the man with an
infatuation and knack for getting wet), Ashleigh (who had done very limited
kayaking prior), Josh (who has been along for several excursions around Aiken)
and myself.
The four of us took off from BRO’s put-in just off Wildcat
Bridge Rd along with a group of, I believe, 8 people from Athens (guys with
their girlfriends). BRO has this pretty cool slide that you can use to get
yourself and your gear down from their outpost hut to a grassy section just off
the river and they also have a similar slide that looks like you put your kayak
on, you get in, and then you slide down into the water. Sadly, this second
slide was out of order. I was very tempted to use it anways, but wanted to make
sure I would be invited back and that it wouldn’t collapse underneath me.
The first section of the river is relatively calm, and has
lots of sandbars. Ashleigh found that out the hard way and was stuck on one not
5 minutes into our paddle. Seriously, who invites these people? Just kidding!
Now, you see the first orange dot (the very beginning of the
video).
This is about where another group put in and the river has an island.
If you go right, like I did, you’ll have a tough time if the water is low. It’s
just a side creek. Pretty area, but nothing exciting. BUT it dumps you out
right in the first serious rapids of the trip. This is a fun little section
that I would encourage you to maybe even do a couple times if you can get to
the bank and hike back up because it was fun the day we went and gets your feet
wet (pun intended) for what lies ahead.
This is also the first section where Billy bailed on his
boat for some reason and boy was it funny (:40 into the video you see a
floating Billy). As I was going through, I saw something floating ahead of me
and noticed it kind of looked like a floating Billy. I was right and I quickly
came up on his submerged kayak. It took some fighting, but I was able to get it
over to the bank to wait on Billy. Billy decided to catch a ride with a lady
from one of the other groups and, if you know Billy, you know he’s not a small
guy. And, from what I can remember, this lady wasn’t small either. I wasn’t
able to get video of it, but he looked kind of funny riding behind her on her
sit-in kayak… and they flipped! Boy that would have been funny. Sorry, Billy.
You know I kid because I care. So, once Billy got down to me, he got back in
and we took off. Also, note, Josh and Ashleigh had a tendency to get well ahead
of Billy and me the three times he bailed while floating.
After this, there is another fun whitewater area that I was
not sure where to locate it on the map (:51 into the video looking forward and
1:09 for looking back at me). I went on through to the left and it was quite
fun with a channel made by the rocks. Here, the eight in the group just ahead
of our group had decided to get out and the guys were jumping off a large stick
stuck into the rocks and jumping into the flow. It looked like a lot of fun. If
you’re not pressed for time, I would suggest trying this a couple times.
After this section it was relatively quiet for a while.
There were a couple other small rapid sections including a short drop (1:50 –
2:32) but nothing terribly exciting or dangerous… until the second orange dot.
This isn’t a bad spot under normal circumstances, but from
time to time, when the river is up and the flow is moving along, it can get
treacherous. But this second dot marks a small waterfall. I found a picture of
it on Google from BRO’s website and this is about what it looked like the day I
went.
As you can see in the picture and somewhat in the video
(3:30-3:36), there are two distinct sections and actually a third one. The
farthest one, on the right of the picture and left as you are going down it, is
a fun slide. The middle section, is about a 3-5 foot drop depending on the day
and then not pictured, but on the left is another drop that I was told can be
dangerous due to the flow of water and some rocks.
Anyways, we came down on this section and you can see there
is an island. To the left as you are going down the river is a choppy area that
is fun but filled with rocks. To the right leads you to the falls. I did the
fall once and then the slide once while Billy gave the slide a try. By the way,
this is a point where Billy bailed not once, but twice. Sorry, Billy. But I
highly recommend staying here a while because if you are able to paddle strong,
you can make your way back up to try this section multiple times and it is SO
much fun. This, alone, is worth the price of admission. (2:47 – 4:22 in the
video shows me doing the drop from two angles and then the slide from two
angles and yes, I went back and got Billy.)
From here you make your way down through two, maybe three
more white water sections. Two are just before the Highway 172 bridge. The
first is called the Rooster Tail (4:25 – 5:25 in the video) and it’s a far
right section that gives you another good taste of some good whitewater. There
is also a nice little section just before the bridge (Billy ate it here as well)
and then the final bit is just before the take-out. You see there are a few
islands here and my thinking is, if you go right all along the river except for
the two times I have listed above as going left, then you are going to have a blast.
I will definitely be going back up a few times this summer
with some more video and hopefully some more pictures.
Now, for a few
stills from the video as I was hitting the sections.
